


Basement

by TouchingOldMagic



Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [1]
Category: Ghostbusters (1984-1989; 2020), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24616285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TouchingOldMagic/pseuds/TouchingOldMagic
Summary: Day 1 of the Ghostbusters 30 Day ChallengePrompt: Favorite MovieSure, the pole still works. Everything else? Not so much.
Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779643
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Basement

"'We should stay here tonight,' he said," Peter grumbled under his breath as he followed Ray and Egon down the narrow stairs to the basement. "'Try it out,' he said."

Ray half turned to face Peter with his flashlight under his chin, turning his face into a shadowy mask. "You're not afraid of the dark, are you, Venkman?"

Peter shot him a look (which probably went unseen in the dark, since he didn't have a flashlight in his own face). "I'm afraid of being bitten by a brown recluse, Ray," he said flatly. "Really, I don't think it's too much to ask for our 'slumber party' to end without with one of us taking a trip to the ER. Especially since it would most likely be me."

"That species isn't indigenous to this area," Egon informed him, reaching the basement floor and casting about with his flashlight beam to find the fuse box. "However, there are several species of native invertebrates that could warrant such precautions, including yellow sac spiders--"

"Thanks, Egon," Peter cut him off. "What's up with the fuses?"

The two men with flashlights approached the fuse box. "Here, hold the light for me," Ray requested of Egon, pulling open the small metal door and tucking his own flashlight under his arm so his hands were free.

Ray was completely undaunted by the bad luck of losing power on their very first night in what was soon going to be their building. (The paperwork took more than a day to go through, and Peter was holding onto a small flickering candlelight of hope that maybe he and Egon could browbeat Ray into looking for a better building before it did, hopefully with one third the mortgage of this one).

Not expecting a power outage, it wasn't a surprise that they didn't have three flashlights (Peter was a bit surprised that Ray even had two in that pile of supplies he had dumped upstairs) so Peter stuck his hands in the pockets of his slacks and waited behind the two eggheads as they conferred over the fuse box. He cast an uneasy glance around the basement, but there wasn't much to see.

Peter was _not_ afraid of the dark, but there was a certain unnerving quality to the basement. Being below ground made it colder than the rest of the building, and the lack of windows made the darkness like a solid, heavy blanket, like something that might press back on him if he wandered too far from Ray's and Egon's beams of light.

The two brainiacs poked around in the fuse box, producing a couple of loud, sharp snaps as they tried a few of the switches. Ray looked over his shoulder. "Pete, go upstairs and see if the lights are back on? Or better yet, try the switch at the top of the stairs." He untucked his flashlight from his armpit and flashed it at the stairway so Peter could see where he was going.

Peter eyed the darkened stairs dubiously. "Sure, why not," he muttered, heading up. _This is it, this is where I'll fall and break my neck,_ he thought. _I'll be the first successful test of the equipment the Einsteins are putting together. Why don't these stairs have a handrail? If I survive tonight, I'm voting we install handrails._

His hand groped across the cold wall when he reached the top of the stairs, taking a few seconds to find the light switch. He flipped it and immediately the room was lit by a single unshaded bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling. All three men put up hands to shade their eyes; although the light wasn't that strong, after the solid blackness they needed a moment to adjust.

In the revealing light, the basement became less of a creepy unknown and more of a bare possible storage area. All four walls were unpainted gray concrete. A few collapsed metal shelving units were pushed against the far wall, which were going to need to be repaired or hauled out. _Maybe needs a coat of paint, too,_ Peter thought to himself. Not that the basement was high priority at the moment, but if the fuses kept tripping he anticipated more trips down here in the near future.

"See? Nothing to it! This place is gonna be great," Ray said cheerfully. He brushed cobwebs off his hands and turned for the stairs, not noticing that Egon failed to fall into step behind him. The tallest of the trio was standing in the center of the room, gazing at the wall in contemplation.

At the head of the stairs, Peter moved aside so Ray could pass him. "You coming, Spengs?" he called down.

"Yes," he heard the physicist murmur, mostly to himself. Then Egon raised his voice to carry up the stairs. "Raymond?"

"Yeah?"

"I have an idea."

"Does your idea involve maybe coming up out of the basement at some point?" Peter asked, impatient.

The calculator had somehow magically replaced the flashlight in Egon's hand. "Actually, Peter," he spoke without looking up from his tapping of the keys, "if this idea merits fruition, we might be spending much more time down here."

Peter sighed. "Of course. Where else would I spend my time in a creepy old building? Would you get up here please? I'd like to get my beauty rest, if it's not too much to ask."

Egon swiveled around, still peering at his calculator screen in the dim light, and promptly tripped over the bottom step of the stairs as he made his way over to them. Hastily he caught himself with a hand on the wall.

Peter waited at the top to make sure the physicist made it up without further incident. "Look, if we're going to be going up and down here all the time, we're installing handrails," he said.

Egon nodded. "That would be prudent."


End file.
